I'm here in Duluth, MN for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon - one of the three featured races during Grandma's Marathon weekend. I've run Grandma's Marathon three times, but I seem to be on a half marathon kick this year. I came to Duluth with two goals in mind. Run my fastest half marathon to date and make the Saturday afternoon medal ceremony, by finishing among the top three in my age group. Looking at recent age group times in this race, it seemed like a good stretch goal for me. However, I've come down with a bad head/chest cold this week and one of the worst coughs I have had in years. The funny thing is, the only time I don't cough is when I run. Not sure if it's some kind of natural defense mechanism the body engages when demanding more oxygen, but the race would be out of the question if I had to cough while running, as it would bring me to my knees in no time. My lungs are clear, so I plan to go ahead with the race despite that my health being less than 100%.
It was 80 degrees and humid back home in the Twin Cities, but the weather in Duluth is strongly influenced by Lake Superior. As we drove north Friday morning, the temperature gauge on my car kept dropping as we came closer to Duluth. In fact it was only 50 degrees with thick fog as we rolled into town. 30 degrees cooler than home two hours south. The fog was expected to lift later in the day, but it never did. The wind picked up in the evening, making it very chilly, damp and uncomfortably cold outside as we watched the 5k race before dinner - the first of the three weekend races and the official kick-off to race weekend.
I went to bed early Friday night as Saturday morning came with a 4:15am wake-up call, as shuttle buses began transporting runners to the starting line at 4:45am. It was in the upper 40's and foggy as I woke up, but the winds had died down which helped keep the damp cold from penetrating to the bone. They run the half marathon on the same course as the full marathon (map below), starting at the half-way point, so they can utilize the same finish line. Over 7,000 runners ran the half marathon this year, making the start of the race a bit of a logistical nightmare. The course is run on old Highway 61 which runs along the north shore of Lake Superior. As buses dropped thousands of runners off at the start, the width of the little two lane highway was all we had to work with as the lake was on one side and thick woods on the other. The highway had to support the entire process from the port-o-potties, to gear drop, to the starting corrals. It felt like being stuck in a phone booth while others still attempted to force their way inside with you. There was nowhere to warm-up before the race with wall to wall people everywhere. I used the facilities and then began the slow process of forcing my way as close to the starting line as I could. By the time I made it there, it was almost time for the race to begin.
As the race began, I had a hard time finding my rhythm and pace. I may have been a bit tentative in the first mile due to my health, but still felt like I was running 6:45 mile splits based on the effort I was putting forth. Yet as each mile clicked by, my actual splits were 15 seconds slower than what I wanted them to be. Very discouraging, as I realized by mile 4 that I was already a full minute slower than I needed to be if i was going to have any chance of running a personal best today. Things did not improve over the next 4 miles either as I now found myself more than 2 minutes off my target pace. I was running with the 1:30 pace team from miles 4-8, but now they were starting to pull away from me and I could feel the anxiety building inside me as the gap widened. I knew I should be able to run faster than 1:30 on this course in this weather, but I also knew I wasn't feeling well today. A personal best was out of the question at this point with just 5 miles to go. I was discouraged and just wanted the race to be over. Not sure if it was the anxiety of seeing the pace team pulling away, but I somehow began to pick up the pace. By mile 9, I was back even with the pace team. Lemon Drop Hill was looming up ahead. I fought my way up the hill and was now ahead of the pace team. My mile 10 split was 6:45, the pace I wanted to run from the beginning. With 3 miles to go I noticed I was passing other runners ahead of me and my mile splits continued to improve with each mile - 6:40, 6:35 and 6:20 in mile 13. I was completely spent, but encouraged and motivated by the fact I was running faster with each mile. The final stretch to the finish couldn't come fast enough.
I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:29:13. My 3rd fastest half marathon among the 18 I've run, but 1 minute 11 seconds off my personal best. I was able to finish strong, which meant a lot considering where I was after mile 8. Overall, I finished 295th among 7,299 finishers and 5th in my age group among 186. I fell short of both goals I set for myself heading into the race, although my age group field was very strong this year. Much stronger than last year. The 3rd pace time in my age group was 9 minutes faster than last years 3rd place time. I finished a full 7 minutes behind 3rd place, not even coming close to earning an age group medal. Yet my time would have earned 3rd place in last years race. My consolation prize was finishing in the top 3 among Minnesota runners. Two of the top 4 age group finishers were out state runners. Anyway, it looks like I have a bit of a break now until my next race in early August. I was going to run a small 5k in July, but the race sponsor pulled out and the race was cancelled. I can probably use a bit of a mental break from racing after running 4 tough races over the last 10 weeks.
Results:
http://www.mtecresults.com/race/show/2165/2014_Grandma%2527s_Marathon-Garry_Bjorklund_Half_Marathon
No comments:
Post a Comment